Display device having fingerprint sensing function, electronic device including the same, and operation method thereof

ABSTRACT

A display device relating to a method of operating thereof, including: a display panel having a touch sensing unit to sense an external touch and a display unit including a plurality of pixels; a fingerprint sensing panel to sense a fingerprint disposed on one surface of the display unit, the fingerprint sensing panel having a plurality of fingerprint sensing pixels respectively connected to a plurality of fingerprint scan lines and a plurality of fingerprint sensing lines, and a fingerprint scan driving circuit to drive one or more fingerprint scan lines included in a sensing area; and a read-out circuit to output a selection signal for selecting a sensing area of the fingerprint sensing panel.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.17/892,107, filed on Aug. 21, 2023, which is a Continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 16/838,689, filed on Apr. 2, 2020, issued asU.S. Pat. No. 11,423,684, which claims priority from and the benefit ofKorean Patent Application No. 10-2019-0038997, filed on Apr. 3, 2019,each of which is hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes as iffully set forth herein.

BACKGROUND Field

The invention relates generally to electronic devices and, moreparticularly, to a display panel having a fingerprint sensing functionand a display device including the same.

Discussion of the Background

Multimedia electronic devices such as a television, a mobile phone, atablet computer, a navigation device, a game console, and the like havea display device for displaying an image. The electronic devices mayinclude a touch display device capable of providing a touch-based inputmethod that allows a user to easily input information or commandsintuitively and conveniently in addition to a typical input method suchas a button, a keyboard, and a mouse.

Recently, electronic devices have being used for online banking, productpurchase, and security applications in which sensitive personal and/orfinancial information must be protected. Accordingly, some electronicdevices utilize a fingerprint, which provides unique biometricinformation, as a user authentication means for online banking, productpurchase, security applications, etc. As applications using sensitivepersonal and/or financial information are increasing, there is anincreasing demand for a touch display device having a fingerprintrecognition function.

The above information disclosed in this Background section is only forunderstanding of the background of the inventive concepts, and,therefore, it may contain information that does not constitute priorart.

SUMMARY

Applicant realized that electronic devices with fingerprint recognitionmay be limited in that the fingerprint recognition function is confinedto a predetermined space on the display.

Display devices and electronic devices including the same constructedaccording to the principles and exemplary embodiments of the inventionare capable of sensing a fingerprint on substantially the entire frontsurface thereof. The electronic device may increase the brightness ofthe display area corresponding to the sensing area, thereby improvingthe fingerprint recognition performance. Also, the signal processingamount may be minimized by receiving a fingerprint sensing signal fromthe sensing area corresponding to the user's touch area.

Display devices and electronic devices including the same constructedaccording to the principles and exemplary embodiments of the inventionmay use a combination of sensing lines and scanning lines to detect afinger touch and sequentially drive the scan lines to create a newfingerprint signal and compare the signal to a fingerprint image storedin memory.

Additional features of the inventive concepts will be set forth in thedescription which follows, and in part will be apparent from thedescription, or may be learned by practice of the inventive concepts.

According to one aspect of the invention, a display device includes: adisplay panel having a touch sensing unit to sense an external touch anda display unit including a plurality of pixels; a fingerprint sensingpanel to sense a fingerprint disposed on one surface of the displayunit, the fingerprint sensing panel having a plurality of fingerprintsensing pixels respectively connected to a plurality of fingerprint scanlines and a plurality of fingerprint sensing lines, and a fingerprintscan driving circuit to drive one or more fingerprint scan linesincluded in a sensing area; and a read-out circuit to output a selectionsignal for selecting a sensing area of the fingerprint sensing panel.

The fingerprint sensing panel may include a plurality of sensing units,where each of the plurality of sensing units may include x fingerprintsensing pixels adjacent to each other in a first direction and yfingerprint sensing pixels adjacent to each other in a second directionwhere each of x and y can be, independently, a natural number, and thesensing area may have at least one of the plurality of sensing units.

The fingerprint scan driving circuit may include a plurality of scanblocks respectively corresponding to the plurality of sensing unitsarranged in the second direction, and each of the plurality of scanblocks may sequentially drive the one or more fingerprint scan lines ina corresponding sensing unit among the plurality of sensing units inresponse to a block selection signal.

Each of the scan blocks may include a plurality of switching elementsrespectively corresponding to the one or more fingerprint scan lines;and a plurality of stages respectively corresponding to the one or morefingerprint scan lines to output a fingerprint scan signal to acorresponding fingerprint scan line, where a first switching element maytransfer the block selection signal to a corresponding stage in responseto a block clock signal, and a h-th switching element where h may be apositive integer greater than 1 may transfer a fingerprint scan signaloutputted from a (h-1)-th stage to corresponding stages in response tothe block clock signal.

The read-out circuit may receive a fingerprint sensing signal from oneof the plurality of fingerprint sensing lines.

The read-out circuit may have a plurality of read-out blocksrespectively corresponding to the plurality of sensing units arranged inthe first direction; and a control circuit to output the block selectionsignal and a reception selection signal, where each of the plurality ofread-out blocks may receive the fingerprint sensing signal from thefingerprint sensing lines in a sensing unit included in the sensing areain response to the reception selection signal.

The display unit may have a display area in which the pixels can bearranged and a non-display area adjacent to the display area, and theplurality of fingerprint sensing pixels of the fingerprint sensing panelmay be arranged in a fingerprint sensing area overlapping the displayarea.

The fingerprint sensing panel may be configured to sense a fingerprintdisposed substantially anywhere on the one surface of the display unitand the one or more fingerprint scan lines may be sequentially driven.

According to another aspect of the invention, an electronic deviceincludes: a display unit including a plurality of pixels; a paneldriving circuit to drive the display unit; a touch sensing unit disposedon the display unit to sense an external touch; a touch sensing controlcircuit to drive the touch sensing unit; a fingerprint sensing paneldisposed on one surface of the display unit to sense a fingerprint; aread-out circuit to drive the fingerprint sensing panel; and a controlmodule to control the panel driving circuit, the touch sensing controlcircuit, and the read-out circuit, where when a touch sensing signalcorresponding to an arbitrary touch area is received from the touchsensing control circuit, the control module controls the panel drivingcircuit so that a brightness of a light emitting area of the displayunit becomes a predetermined level, and controls the read-out circuit tosense a fingerprint from a sensing area of the fingerprint sensingpanel, where the touch area, the light emitting area, and the sensingarea overlap each other.

The fingerprint sensing panel may include a plurality of fingerprintsensing pixels respectively connected to a plurality of fingerprint scanlines and a plurality of fingerprint sensing lines; and a fingerprintscan driving circuit to may sequentially drive fingerprint scan linesincluded in the sensing area.

The read-out circuit may be configured to output a block selectionsignal to select the sensing area, and to receive a fingerprint sensingsignal from fingerprint sensing lines included in the sensing area.

The read-out circuit may be configured to perform an authenticationprocess to compare the fingerprint sensing signal with a storedfingerprint signal, and to provide an authentication result to thecontrol module.

The display unit may further include a plurality of scan lines and aplurality of data lines respectively connected to the plurality ofpixels, one frame may have an active period in which the plurality ofscan lines may be sequentially driven, and a blank period, and thecontrol module may be configured to control the read-out circuit toreceive the fingerprint sensing signal from fingerprint sensing linesincluded in the sensing area during the blank period.

The fingerprint sensing panel may include a plurality of sensing units,each of the plurality of sensing units can include x fingerprint sensingpixels adjacent to each other in a first direction and y fingerprintsensing pixels adjacent to each other in a second direction where eachof x and y may be, independently, a natural number, and the sensing areamay include at least one of the plurality of sensing units.

The fingerprint scan driving circuit may include a plurality of scanblocks respectively corresponding to the plurality of sensing unitsarranged in the second direction, and each of the plurality of scanblocks may sequentially drive the fingerprint scan lines in acorresponding sensing unit in response to the block selection signal.

Each of the scan blocks may include: a plurality of switching elementsrespectively corresponding to the plurality of fingerprint scan lines;and a plurality of stages respectively corresponding to the plurality offingerprint scan lines to output a fingerprint scan signal to acorresponding fingerprint scan line, where a first switching elementtransfers the block selection signal to a corresponding stage inresponse to a block clock signal, a h-th switching element where h maybe a positive integer greater than 1 transfers a fingerprint scan signaloutput from a (h-1)-th stage to corresponding in response to the blockclock signal.

The display unit may include a display area in which the pixels can bearranged and a non-display area adjacent to the display area, and theplurality of fingerprint sensing pixels of the fingerprint sensing panelmay be arranged in a fingerprint sensing area overlapping the displayarea.

The control module may be configured to receive a fingerprint signalfrom the read-out circuit and to perform an authentication process tocompare the received fingerprint signal with a stored fingerprintsignal.

The control module may control a brightness of the light emitting areato a first level when the touch sensing signal can be received, wherethe control module may increase a brightness of the light emitting areastep by step from the first level when the fingerprint signal receivedfrom the read-out circuit and the stored fingerprint signal may bedifferent from each other.

When a position of the sensing area may be determined before a touchsensing signal corresponding to an arbitrary touch area may be receivedfrom the touch sensing control circuit, the control module can controlthe panel driving circuit so that a brightness of the light emittingarea corresponding to the sensing area may become the predeterminedlevel, and may control the read-out circuit to sense a fingerprint fromthe sensing area.

The fingerprint sensing panel may further include a plurality of padsdisposed in a peripheral area adjacent to the fingerprint sensing area,and may further include a circuit board electrically connected to thefingerprint sensing panel through the pads, and the read-out circuit maybe disposed on the circuit board.

According to a further aspect of the invention, a display deviceincludes: a display panel including a touch sensing unit to sense anexternal touch and a display unit including a plurality of pixels; afingerprint sensing panel disposed on one surface of the display unitand including a plurality of fingerprint sensing pixels respectivelyconnected to a plurality of fingerprint scan lines and a plurality offingerprint sensing lines; and a fingerprint scan driving circuit todrive the plurality of fingerprint scan lines, where the fingerprintscan driving circuit selectively drives at least one of the plurality offingerprint scan lines in response to a block selection signal andmaintains unselected fingerprint scan lines in an inactive level.

The fingerprint sensing panel may include a plurality of sensing unitsincluding x fingerprint sensing pixels adjacent to each other in a firstdirection and y fingerprint sensing pixels adjacent to each other in asecond direction where each of x and y may be, independently, a naturalnumber.

The fingerprint scan driving circuit may include a plurality of scanblocks respectively corresponding to the plurality of sensing unitsarranged in the second direction, where each of the plurality of scanblocks may sequentially drive the fingerprint scan lines connected tothe fingerprint sensing pixels in a corresponding sensing unit inresponse to the block selection signal.

A read-out circuit may select some of the plurality of sensing units asa sensing area and may provide the block selection signals correspondingto a selected sensing area, and the read-out circuit may be configuredto receive a fingerprint sensing signal from each of the fingerprintsensing lines connected to the fingerprint sensing pixels in the sensingarea.

The read-out circuit may include a plurality of read-out blocksrespectively corresponding to the plurality of sensing units arranged inthe first direction, each of the plurality of read-out blockscorresponding to the sensing area may be configured to receive afingerprint sensing signal from each of fingerprint sensing linesconnected to fingerprint sensing pixels in a corresponding sensing unit,and each of plurality of read-out blocks not corresponding to thesensing area may be configured to maintain an inactive state.

According to still another aspect of the invention, a method ofoperating an electronic device including a touch sensing unit, a displayunit, and a fingerprint sensing panel, includes the steps of: receivinga touch sensing signal from the touch sensing unit; defining a toucharea corresponding to the touch sensing signal; increasing a lightemission brightness of a light emitting area of the display unitcorresponding to the touch area; generating a block selection signal toselect a sensing area of the fingerprint sensing panel corresponding tothe touch area to the fingerprint sensing panel; and driving afingerprint scan line connected to a fingerprint sensing pixel in thesensing area of the fingerprint sensing panel in response to the blockselection signal.

The fingerprint sensing panel can include: a plurality of fingerprintsensing pixels respectively connected to a plurality of fingerprint scanlines and a plurality of fingerprint sensing lines; and a fingerprintscan driving circuit to sequentially drive the plurality of fingerprintscan lines, where the fingerprint sensing panel may include a pluralityof sensing units, each of the plurality of sensing units may include xfingerprint sensing pixels adjacent to each other in a first directionand y fingerprint sensing pixels adjacent to each other in a seconddirection among the plurality of fingerprint sensing pixels where eachof x and y may be, independently, a natural number, and the sensing areamay include at least one of the plurality of sensing units.

The fingerprint scan driving circuit may include a plurality of scanblocks respectively corresponding to the plurality of sensing unitsarranged in the second direction, where the step of generating of theblock selection signal may include: selecting at least one scan blockcorresponding to the sensing area among the plurality of scan blocks inresponse to the block selection signal; and sequentially drivingfingerprint scan lines corresponding to the at least one selected scanblock.

The step of receiving a fingerprint signal may be from the sensing areaof the fingerprint sensing panel.

The step of comparing the fingerprint signal may be with a presetfingerprint signal.

When the fingerprint signal and the preset fingerprint signal may bedifferent from each other, increasing a light emission brightness of alight emitting area may correspond to the touch area of the displayunit; generating a block selection to sense a sensing area maycorrespond to the touch area of the fingerprint sensing panel; andreceiving a new fingerprint signal may be from the sensing area of thefingerprint sensing panel.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and areintended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate exemplary embodiments of theinvention, and together with the description serve to explain theinventive concepts.

FIG. 1A is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of anelectronic device constructed according to principles of the invention;

FIG. 1B is an exploded perspective view of the electronic device of FIG.1A;

FIG. 1C is a cross-sectional view of the electronic device of FIG. 1A;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the exemplary electronic device shown inFIG. 1A;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of an exemplary embodiment of a display unitconstructed according to principles of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of an exemplary embodiment of a touch sensing unitconstructed according to principles of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of an exemplary embodiment of a fingerprintsensing panel constructed according to principles of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment depicting aconnection relationship between fingerprint sensing pixels and afingerprint sensing scan circuit and a read-out circuit constructedaccording to principles of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of arepresentative pixel connected to the i-th fingerprint sensing line andthe j-th fingerprint scan line constructed according to principles ofthe invention;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of acircuit configuration of the first fingerprint scan driving circuitshown in FIG. 6 ;

FIG. 9 is an exemplary embodiment of a circuit diagram illustrating thestage shown in FIG. 8 ;

FIG. 10 is an exemplary embodiment of a timing diagram for explainingthe operation of the stage shown in FIG. 9 ;

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of an exemplary embodiments of a touchsensing unit, display unit and fingerprint sensing panel illustrating anexemplary operation of an electronic device constructed according toprinciples of the invention;

FIGS. 12 and 13 are block and timing diagrams, respectively, of anexemplary embodiment illustrating an exemplary operation of a controlmodule of an electronic device constructed according to principles ofthe invention;

FIG. 14A is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of afirst fingerprint scan driving circuit for driving fingerprint scanlines of a fingerprint sensing panel constructed according to principlesof the invention;

FIG. 14B is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of afirst fingerprint scan driving circuit for driving fingerprint scanlines in a sensing area of a fingerprint sensing panel constructedaccording to principles of the invention;

FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of aread-out circuit constructed according to principles of the invention;

FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment ofread-out blocks receiving fingerprint sensing signals from fingerprintsensing lines in a sensing area of a fingerprint sensing panelconstructed according to principles of the invention;

FIG. 17 is an exemplary embodiment of a timing diagram illustrating theoperation of an electronic device constructed according to principles ofthe invention;

FIGS. 18A, 18B and 18C are graphs showing exemplary changes in thebrightness of the light emitting area in a display unit constructedaccording to principles of the invention;

FIG. 19A is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of afingerprint sensing process of an electronic device constructedaccording to principles of the invention;

FIG. 19B is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of afingerprint sensing process of an electronic device when fingerprintauthentication fails in the authentication process shown in FIG. 19A;

FIG. 20A is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of afingerprint sensing process of an electronic device constructedaccording to principles of the invention;

FIG. 20B is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of afingerprint sensing process of an electronic device when fingerprintauthentication fails in the authentication process shown in FIG. 20A;

FIG. 21A is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of afingerprint sensing process of an electronic device constructedaccording to principles of the invention; and

FIG. 21B is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of afingerprint sensing process of an electronic device when fingerprintauthentication fails in the authentication process shown in FIG. 21A.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of various exemplary embodiments or implementations of theinvention. As used herein “embodiments” and “implementations” areinterchangeable words that are non-limiting examples of devices ormethods employing one or more of the inventive concepts disclosedherein. It is apparent, however, that various exemplary embodiments maybe practiced without these specific details or with one or moreequivalent arrangements. In other instances, well-known structures anddevices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid unnecessarilyobscuring various exemplary embodiments. Further, various exemplaryembodiments may be different, but do not have to be exclusive. Forexample, specific shapes, configurations, and characteristics of anexemplary embodiment may be used or implemented in another exemplaryembodiment without departing from the inventive concepts.

Unless otherwise specified, the illustrated exemplary embodiments are tobe understood as providing exemplary features of varying detail of someways in which the inventive concepts may be implemented in practice.Therefore, unless otherwise specified, the features, components,modules, layers, films, panels, regions, and/or aspects, etc.(hereinafter individually or collectively referred to as “elements”), ofthe various embodiments may be otherwise combined, separated,interchanged, and/or rearranged without departing from the inventiveconcepts.

The use of cross-hatching and/or shading in the accompanying drawings isgenerally provided to clarify boundaries between adjacent elements. Assuch, neither the presence nor the absence of cross-hatching or shadingconveys or indicates any preference or requirement for particularmaterials, material properties, dimensions, proportions, commonalitiesbetween illustrated elements, and/or any other characteristic,attribute, property, etc., of the elements, unless specified. Further,in the accompanying drawings, the size and relative sizes of elementsmay be exaggerated for clarity and/or descriptive purposes. When anexemplary embodiment may be implemented differently, a specific processorder may be performed differently from the described order. Forexample, two consecutively described processes may be performedsubstantially at the same time or performed in an order opposite to thedescribed order. Also, like reference numerals denote like elements.

When an element, such as a layer, is referred to as being “on,”“connected to,” or “coupled to” another element or layer, it may bedirectly on, connected to, or coupled to the other element or layer orintervening elements or layers may be present. When, however, an elementor layer is referred to as being “directly on,” “directly connected to,”or “directly coupled to” another element or layer, there are nointervening elements or layers present. To this end, the term“connected” may refer to physical, electrical, and/or fluid connection,with or without intervening elements. Further, the D1-axis, the D2-axis,and the D3-axis are not limited to three axes of a rectangularcoordinate system, such as the x, y, and z—axes, and may be interpretedin a broader sense. For example, the D1-axis, the D2-axis, and theD3-axis may be perpendicular to one another, or may represent differentdirections that are not perpendicular to one another. For the purposesof this disclosure, “at least one of X, Y, and Z” and “at least oneselected from the group consisting of X, Y, and Z” may be construed as Xonly, Y only, Z only, or any combination of two or more of X, Y, and Z,such as, for instance, XYZ, XYY, YZ, and ZZ. As used herein, the term“and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of theassociated listed items.

Although the terms “first,” “second,” etc. may be used herein todescribe various types of elements, these elements should not be limitedby these terms. These terms are used to distinguish one element fromanother element. Thus, a first element discussed below could be termed asecond element without departing from the teachings of the disclosure.

Spatially relative terms, such as “beneath,” “below,” “under,” “lower,”“above,” “upper,” “over,” “higher,” “side” (e.g., as in “sidewall”), andthe like, may be used herein for descriptive purposes, and, thereby, todescribe one elements relationship to another element(s) as illustratedin the drawings. Spatially relative terms are intended to encompassdifferent orientations of an apparatus in use, operation, and/ormanufacture in addition to the orientation depicted in the drawings. Forexample, if the apparatus in the drawings is turned over, elementsdescribed as “below” or “beneath” other elements or features would thenbe oriented “above” the other elements or features. Thus, the exemplaryterm “below” can encompass both an orientation of above and below.Furthermore, the apparatus may be otherwise oriented (e.g., rotated 90degrees or at other orientations), and, as such, the spatially relativedescriptors used herein should be interpreted accordingly.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, thesingular forms, “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the pluralforms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Moreover,the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” and/or “including,”when used in this specification, specify the presence of statedfeatures, integers, properties, regions, fixed numbers, processes,steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof, but donot preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features,integers, properties, regions, fixed numbers, processes, steps,operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. The term“and/or” includes all of one or more combinations defined by relatedcomponents. It is also noted that, as used herein, the terms“substantially,” “about,” and other similar terms, are used as terms ofapproximation and not as terms of degree, and, as such, are utilized toaccount for inherent deviations in measured, calculated, and/or providedvalues that would be recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art.

Various exemplary embodiments are described herein with reference tosectional and/or exploded illustrations that are schematic illustrationsof idealized exemplary embodiments and/or intermediate structures. Assuch, variations from the shapes of the illustrations as a result, forexample, of manufacturing techniques and/or tolerances, are to beexpected. Thus, exemplary embodiments disclosed herein should notnecessarily be construed as limited to the particular illustrated shapesof regions, but are to include deviations in shapes that result from,for instance, manufacturing. In this manner, regions illustrated in thedrawings may be schematic in nature and the shapes of these regions maynot reflect actual shapes of regions of a device and, as such, are notnecessarily intended to be limiting.

In exemplary embodiments, the modules as depicted in FIGS. 12-13, 19A-B,20A-B, and 21A-B, and/or one or more components thereof, may beimplemented via one or more general purpose and/or special purposecomponents, such as one or more discrete circuits, digital signalprocessing chips, integrated circuits, application specific integratedcircuits, microprocessors, processors, programmable arrays, fieldprogrammable arrays, instruction set processors, and/or the like.

According to one or more exemplary embodiments, the features, functions,processes, etc., described herein may be implemented via software,hardware (e.g., general processor, digital signal processing (DSP) chip,an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), field programmablegate arrays (FPGAs), etc.), firmware, or a combination thereof. In thismanner, the modules as depicted in FIGS. 12-13, 19A-B, 20A-B, and 21A-B,and/or one or more components thereof may include or otherwise beassociated with one or more memories including code (e.g., instructions)configured to cause the modules as depicted in FIGS. 12-13, 19A-B,20A-B, and 21A-B, and/or one or more components thereof to perform oneor more of the features, functions, processes, etc., described herein.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientificterms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by oneof ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure is a part. Terms,such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should beinterpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning inthe context of the relevant art and should not be interpreted in anidealized or overly formal sense, unless expressly so defined herein.

FIG. 1A is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of anelectronic device constructed according to principles of the invention.FIG. 1B is an exploded perspective view of the electronic device of FIG.1A. FIG. 1C is a cross-sectional view of the electronic device of FIG.1A.

Referring to FIG. 1A, a portable terminal is shown as an example of anelectronic device ED (which may be referred to herein as a “displaydevice”) according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention. Theportable terminal may include a tablet PC, a smart phone, a PersonalDigital Assistant (PDA), a Portable Multimedia Player (PMP), a gameconsole, a wristwatch type electronic device, and the like. However, theexemplary embodiments are not limited thereto.

Exemplary embodiments of the invention may be used for large-sizedelectronic equipment such as a TV or an external billboard, and may alsobe used for small-sized electronic equipment such as a personalcomputer, a notebook computer, a car navigation unit, and a camera.These are simply suggested as embodiments and it is apparent that theymay be employed in other electronic devices.

As shown in FIG. 1A, the display surface where the image IM is displayedis generally parallel to the plane defined by a first direction DR1 anda second direction DR2. The electronic device ED includes a plurality ofareas that are distinguished on the display surface. The display surfaceincludes a display area DA for displaying the image IM and a non-displayarea NDA adjacent to the display area DA. The non-display area NDA maybe referred to as a bezel area. As one example, the display area DA mayhave a generally rectangular form. The non-display area NDA may surroundthe display area DA. Also, the electronic device ED may have a partiallygenerally curved shape. As a result, one area of the display area DA mayhave a generally curved shape.

The front surface (or upper surface or first surface) and the rearsurface (or lower surface or second surface) of each member are definedbased on the direction in which the image IM is displayed. However, thedirections that the first to third directions DR1, DR2, and DR3 indicatemay be converted to other directions as a relative concept. Hereinafter,first to third directions as directions that the respective first tothird directions DR1, DR2, and DR3 indicate refer to the same referencenumerals.

The electronic device ED according to an exemplary embodiment of theinvention may sense a touch input TC of a user applied from the outside.The user's inputs include various types of external inputs such as apart of the user's body, light, heat, or pressure. In this embodiment,it is assumed that the user's input is the user's hand applied to thefront surface but this is exemplary. As described above, the user'stouch input TC may be provided in various forms. Also, the electronicdevice ED may sense a user's input applied to a side surface or a rearsurface of the electronic device ED according to the structure of theelectronic device ED, and is not limited to any one embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1B, the electronic device ED includes a display moduleDM and a fingerprint sensing module FSM. The display module DM includesa window member WM, a first adhesive member OCA1, a display panel DP, apanel circuit board P-FCB, a panel driving circuit PDC and a touchsensing circuit TSC.

The window member WM provides a front surface of the electronic deviceED shown in FIG. 1A. The window member WM may include a glass substrate,a sapphire substrate, a plastic substrate, or the like. In addition, thewindow member WM may include a functional coating layer such as ananti-fingerprint layer, an anti-reflection layer, and a hard coatinglayer. In this exemplary embodiment, a flat type window member WM isshown in the display area DA, but the shape of the window member WM maybe modified. The facing edges in the first direction DR1 of the windowmember WM may provide a curved surface.

The display panel DP is disposed on the rear surface of the windowmember WM to generate an image IM. In addition, the display panel DP maysense a user input (e.g., user touch and/or pressure of a user). In thisembodiment, although the display panel DP providing a flat displaysurface is exemplarily shown, the shape of the display panel DP may bemodified. The facing edges in the first direction DR1 of the displaypanel DP may be bent from the central portions to provide a generallycurved surface.

The display panel DP may include various display elements. For example,the display element may be a liquid crystal capacitor, an organic lightemitting element, an electrophoretic element, or an electrowettingelement. The display device according to one exemplary embodiment isdescribed as being a plurality of organic light emitting diodes.Exemplary embodiments of the display panel DP of the invention may be aflexible display panel, for example, an organic light emitting displaypanel.

The first adhesive member OCA1 is disposed between the window member WMand the display panel DP. The first adhesive member OCA1 may be anoptical transparent adhesive member.

One end of the panel circuit board P-FCB may be bonded on the padsdisposed in one area of the display panel DP and thus may beelectrically connected to the display panel DP. According to oneembodiment, the panel driving circuit PDC and the touch sensing circuitTSC may be mounted on the panel circuit board P-FCB in a chip on film(COF) manner. Moreover, a plurality of passive elements and activeelements may be further mounted on the panel circuit board P-FCB. Thepanel circuit board P-FCB may provide an electrical signal to thedisplay panel DP through the signal lines. The panel circuit board P-FCBmay be implemented with a flexible printed circuit. The other end of thepanel circuit board P-FCB may be electrically connected to othercomponents of the electronic device ED shown in FIG. 1A.

The fingerprint sensing module FSM is disposed on the rear surface ofthe display panel DP and includes a second adhesive member OCA2, afingerprint sensing panel FSP, a fingerprint circuit board F-FCB and aread-out circuit ROC. In the illustrated exemplary embodiment, thefingerprint sensing module FSM is shown and described as being disposedon the rear surface of the display panel DP, but the exemplaryembodiments are not limited thereto. For example, the fingerprintsensing module FSM may be disposed on the upper surface of the displaypanel DP.

The second adhesive member OCA2 is disposed between the display panel DPand the fingerprint sensing panel FSP. The second adhesive member OCA2may be an optical transparent adhesive member.

Although FIG. 1B shows that the first adhesive member OCA1 is includedin the display module DM and the second adhesive member OCA2 is includedin the fingerprint sensing module FSM, the exemplary embodiments are notlimited thereto.

After the light emitted from the display panel DP is emitted to theoutside through the window member WM, the fingerprint sensing panel FSPmay sense the amount of light reflected by the user's hand and thus maysense the user's fingerprint information.

One end of the fingerprint circuit board F-FCB may be bonded on the padsdisposed in one area of the fingerprint sensing panel FSP and thus maybe electrically connected to the fingerprint sensing panel FSP.According to one embodiment, the read-out circuit ROC may be mounted onthe fingerprint circuit board F-FCB in a chip on film (COF) manner.Moreover, a plurality of passive elements and active elements may befurther mounted on the fingerprint circuit board F-FCB. The fingerprintcircuit board F-FCB may provide an electrical signal to the fingerprintsensing panel FSP through signal lines and may receive a fingerprintsensing signal from the fingerprint sensing panel FSP. The fingerprintcircuit board F-FCB may be implemented with a flexible printed circuit.The other end of the fingerprint circuit board F-FCB may be electricallyconnected to other components of the electronic device ED shown in FIG.1A.

In an exemplary embodiment, the panel circuit board P-FCB and thefingerprint circuit board F-FCB are disposed facing each other at oneend of each of the display panel DP and the fingerprint sensing panelFSP, but the exemplary embodiments are not limited thereto. In anotherembodiment, the panel circuit board P-FCB and the fingerprint circuitboard F-FCB may be apart from each other in the second direction DR2.That is, the panel circuit board P-FCB may be connected to one side ofthe display panel DP and the fingerprint circuit board F-FCB may beconnected to the other side of the fingerprint sensing panel FSPcorresponding to the other side of the display panel DP.

The electronic device ED shown in FIG. 1A includes various componentsfor controlling the operations of the display module DM in addition tothe display module DM and the fingerprint sensing module FSM shown inFIG. 1B. The circuit components of the electronic device ED will bedescribed in detail later with reference to FIG. 2 .

Referring to FIG. 1C, the electronic device ED of FIG. 1A includes adisplay module DM and a fingerprint sensing module FSM. The displaymodule DM includes a window member WM, a first adhesive member OCA1, anda display panel DP. The display panel DP includes a touch sensing unitTSU and a display unit DU. In another embodiment, the stacking order ofthe touch sensing unit TSU and the display unit DU may be changed. Inanother embodiment, the window member WM may include an anti-reflectionlayer and a window layer.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the exemplary electronic device shown inFIG. 1A.

Referring to FIG. 2 , the electronic device ED includes a display moduleDM, a power supply module PM, a first electronic module EM1, a secondelectronic module EM2, and a fingerprint sensing module FSM. The displaymodule DM, the power supply module PM, the first electronic module EM1,the second electronic module EM2, and the fingerprint sensing module FSMmay be electrically connected to each other. The display unit DU, thepanel driving circuit PDC, the touch sensing unit TSU and the touchsensing circuit TSC in the configuration of the display module DM areillustratively shown in FIG. 2 . Also, the fingerprint sensing panel FSPand the read-out circuit ROC in the configuration of the fingerprintsensing module FSM are illustratively shown in FIG. 2 .

The power supply module PM supplies power necessary for the overalloperation of the electronic device ED. The power supply module PM mayinclude a typical battery module.

The first electronic module EM1 and the second electronic module EM2include various functional modules for operating the electronic deviceED. The first electronic module EM1 may be directly mounted on amotherboard electrically connected to the display module DM or may bemounted on a separate board and electrically connected to themotherboard through a connector or the like.

The first electronic module EM1 may include a control module CM, awireless communication module TM, an image input module IIM, an audioinput module AIM, a memory MM and an external interface IF. Some of themodules may not be mounted on the motherboard, but may be electricallyconnected to the motherboard through a flexible circuit board.

The control module CM controls the overall operation of the electronicdevice ED. The control module CM may be a microprocessor. For example,the control module CM activates or deactivates the display module DM.The control module CM may control other modules such as the image inputmodule IIM and the audio input module AIM based on the touch signalreceived from the display module DM. The control module CM may performuser authentication based on the fingerprint signal received from thefingerprint sensing module FSM.

The wireless communication module TM may transmit/receive a wirelesssignal to/from another terminal using a Bluetooth or a Wi-Fi line. Thewireless communication module TM may transmit/receive a voice signalusing a general communication line. The wireless communication module TMincludes a transmitter TM2 for modulating and transmitting a signal tobe transmitted, and a receiver TM1 for demodulating the received signal.

The image input module TIM processes the image signal and converts itinto image data that may be displayed on the display module DM. Theaudio input module AIM receives an external audio signal by a microphonein a recording mode, a voice recognition mode, etc., and converts itinto electrical voice data.

The external interface IF serves as an interface to an external charger,a wired/wireless data port, a card socket (e.g., a memory card, aSIM/UIM card).

The second electronic module EM2 may include an audio output module AOM,a light emitting module LM, a light receiving module LRM, and a cameramodule CMM. The configurations may be directly mounted on themotherboard, or mounted on a separate substrate and electricallyconnected to the display module DM through a connector, or electricallyconnected to the first electronic module EM1.

The audio output module AOM converts the audio data received from thewireless communication module TM or the audio data stored in the memoryMM and outputs the audio data to the outside.

The light emitting module LM generates and outputs light. The lightemitting module LM may output infrared rays. The light emitting moduleLM may include an LED element. The light receiving module LRM may senseinfrared rays. The light receiving module LRM may be activated when aninfrared ray of a predetermined level or higher is sensed. The lightreceiving module LRM may include a CMOS sensor. After the infrared lightgenerated by the light emitting module LM is outputted, the infraredlight is reflected by an external object (e.g., a user finger or aface), and the reflected infrared light may be incident on the lightreceiving module LRM. The camera module CMM captures an image of theoutside.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of an exemplary embodiment of a display unitconstructed according to principles of the invention. FIG. 3schematically shows a signal circuit diagram. In addition, forconvenience of description, some components in FIG. 3 are omitted toavoid redundancy.

As shown in FIG. 3 , the display unit DU includes a display area DP-DAand a non-display area DP-NDA in a plan view. In this embodiment, thenon-display area DP-NDA may be defined along the outline of the displayarea DP-DA. The display area DP-DA and the non-display area DP-NDA ofthe display unit DU correspond to the display area DA and thenon-display area NDA of the electronic device ED shown in FIG. 1A,respectively.

The display unit DU may include a scan driving circuit SDC, a pluralityof signal lines SGL (hereinafter referred to as signal lines), aplurality of signal pads DP-PD (hereinafter referred to as signal pads),and a plurality of pixels PX (hereinafter referred to as pixels). Thepixels PX are disposed in the display area DP-DA. Each of the pixels PXincludes an organic light emitting diode and a pixel driving circuitconnected thereto.

The scan driving circuit SDC generates a plurality of scan signals(hereinafter, referred to as scan signals), and sequentially outputs thescan signals to a plurality of scan lines SL (hereinafter referred to asscan lines) described later. The scan driving circuit SDC may furtheroutput another control signal to the driving circuit of the pixels PX.

The scan driving circuit SDC may include a plurality of thin filmtransistors formed through the same process as the driving circuit ofthe pixels PX, for example, a Low Temperature Polycrystalline Silicon(LTPS) process or a Low Temperature Polycrystalline Oxide (LTPO)process.

The signal lines SGL include scan lines SL, data lines DL, a powersupply line PL, and a control signal line CSL. The scan lines SL arerespectively connected to corresponding pixels PX among the pixels PX,and the data lines DL are respectively connected to corresponding pixelsPX among the pixels PX. The power supply line PL is connected to pixelsPX. The control signal line CSL may provide control signals to the scandriving circuit SDC.

The signal lines SGL overlap the display area DP-DA and the non-displayarea DP-NDA. The signal lines SGL may include a pad part and a linepart. The line part overlaps the display area DP-DA and the non-displayarea DP-NDA. The pad part is connected to the end of the line part. Thepad part is disposed in the non-display area DP-NDA and overlaps thecorresponding signal pad among the signal pads DP-PD. The area where thesignal pads DP-PD are disposed in the non-display area DP-NDA may bedefined as the pad area NDA-PD.

A line part substantially connected to the pixel PX constitutes most ofthe signal lines SGL. The line part is connected to the transistors ofthe pixel PX. The line part may have a single layer/multilayerstructure, and the line part may be a single body or may include two ormore parts. The two or more parts may be disposed on different layersand may be connected to each other through a contact hole passingthrough the insulating layer disposed between the two or more parts.

The display unit DU may further include input sensing pads TS-PDdisposed in the pad area NDA-PD. Since the input sensing pads TS-PD areformed through the same process as the signal lines SGL, they may bedisposed on the same layer as the signal lines SGL.

The input sensing pads TS-PD may overlap the pad portions of the signallines provided in the touch sensing unit TSU shown in FIG. 1C. The inputsensing pads TS-PD may be electrically isolated from the signal linesSGL of the display unit DU.

FIG. 3 additionally shows a panel circuit board P-FCB electricallyconnected to the display unit DU. The panel circuit board P-FCB may be arigid circuit board or a flexible circuit board. The panel circuit boardP-FCB may be directly connected to the display unit DU, or may beconnected to the display unit DU through another circuit board.

The panel circuit board P-FCB may be provided with a panel drivingcircuit PDC for controlling the operation of the display unit DU. Also,a touch sensing circuit TSC for controlling the touch sensing unit TSUmay be disposed on the panel circuit board P-FCB. Each of the paneldriving circuit PDC and the touch sensing circuit TSC may be mounted onthe panel circuit board P-FCB in the form of an integrated chip. Thepanel circuit board P-FCB may include circuit board pads PCB-Pelectrically connected to the display unit DU. The panel circuit boardP-FCB further includes signal lines connecting the circuit board padsPCB-P and the panel driving circuit PDC and/or the touch sensing circuitTSC.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of an exemplary embodiment of a touch sensing unitconstructed according to principles of the invention.

Referring to FIG. 4 , the touch sensing unit TSU is disposed on thedisplay unit DU. The touch sensing unit TSU senses the touch input TC(shown in FIG. 1A) to obtain the position or intensity information ofthe external touch input. The touch sensing unit TSU includes a toucharea TA and a touch peripheral area TSA in a plan view. In thisembodiment, the touch peripheral area TSA may be defined along theoutline of the touch area TA. The touch area TA and the touch peripheralarea TSA of the touch sensing unit TSU correspond to the display area DAand the non-display area NDA of the electronic device ED shown in FIG.1A, respectively.

The touch sensing unit TSU includes a plurality of first sensingelectrodes SE1, a plurality of second sensing electrodes SE2, aplurality of sensing lines TL1, TL2 and TL3, and a plurality of sensingpads.

The first sensing electrodes SE1 and the second sensing electrodes SE2are disposed in the touch area TA. The touch sensing unit TSU may obtaininformation on the touch input TC through the change in capacitancebetween the first sensing electrodes SE1 and the second sensingelectrodes SE2.

Each of the first sensing electrodes SE1 extends along the firstdirection DR1 and is arranged along the second direction DR2. The firstsensing electrodes SE1 may include a plurality of first sensing patternsSP1 and a plurality of first connection patterns CP1.

The first sensing patterns SP1 constituting the first sensing electrodeSE1 are spaced apart from each other along the first direction DR1. Thefirst sensing patterns SP1 are shaded with respect to the second sensingpatterns SP2 for easy explanation in this embodiment. The firstconnection patterns CP1 are disposed between the first sensing patternsSP1 and connect two adjacent first sensing patterns SP1.

Each of the second sensing electrodes SE2 extends along the seconddirection DR2 and is arranged along the first direction DR1. The secondsensing electrodes SE2 may include a plurality of second sensingpatterns SP2 and a plurality of second connection patterns CP2.

The second sensing patterns SP2 constituting the second sensingelectrode SE2 are spaced apart from each other along the seconddirection DR2. The second connection patterns CP2 are disposed betweenthe second sensing patterns SP2 and connect the two adjacent secondsensing patterns SP2.

The sensing lines TL1, TL2 and TL3 are arranged in the touch peripheralarea TSA. The sensing lines TL1, TL2 and TL3 may include first sensinglines TL1, second sensing lines TL2 and third sensing lines TL3. Thefirst sensing lines TL1 are connected to the first sensing electrodesSE1, respectively. The second sensing lines TL2 are connected to oneends of the second sensing electrodes SE2, respectively.

The third sensing lines TL3 are connected to the other ends of thesecond sensing electrodes SE2, respectively. The other ends of thesecond sensing electrodes SE2 may be portions opposite to the one endsof the second sensing electrodes SE2. According to exemplary embodimentsof the invention, the second sensing electrodes SE2 may be connected tothe second sensing lines TL2 and the third sensing lines TL3.Accordingly, for the second sensing electrodes SE2 having a relativelylonger length than the first sensing electrodes SE1, the sensitivityaccording to an area may be maintained uniformly. On the other hand,this is illustratively shown. The third sensing lines TL3 may be omittedand are not limited to any one embodiment.

The sensing pads, as depicted in FIG. 3 , are disposed in the touchperipheral area TSA. The sensing pads may include first sensing pad T1,second sensing pad T2, and third sensing pad T3. The first sensing padT1 is connected to the first sensing lines TL1 to provide an externalsignal to the first sensing electrode SE1. The second sensing pad T2 iselectrically connected to the second sensing electrode SE2 through thesecond sensing line TL2. The third sensing pad T3 is electricallyconnected to the second sensing electrode SE2 through the third sensingline TL3.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of an exemplary embodiment of a fingerprintsensing panel constructed according to principles of the invention.

Referring to FIG. 5 , a fingerprint sensing panel FSP may obtain userfingerprint information (fingerprint signal) by sensing the reflectionlight reflected by the touch input TC shown in FIG. 1A. The fingerprintsensing panel FSP includes a fingerprint sensing area FSA and aperipheral area FSSA in a plan view. In this embodiment, the peripheralarea FSSA may be defined along the outline of the fingerprint sensingarea FSA. The fingerprint sensing area FSA and the peripheral area FSSAof the fingerprint sensing panel FSP overlap in a plan view the displayarea DA and the non-display area NDA of the electronic device ED shownin FIG. 1A, respectively. Therefore, the display area DA of theelectronic device ED shown in FIG. 1A, the display area DP-DA of thedisplay unit DU shown in FIG. 3 , the touch area TA of the touch sensingunit TSU shown in FIG. 4 , and the fingerprint sensing area FSA of thefingerprint sensing panel FSP shown in FIG. 5 overlap each other in aplan view. Similarly, the non-display area NDA of the electronic deviceED shown in FIG. 1A, the non-display area DP-NDA of the display unit DUshown in FIG. 3 , the touch peripheral area TSA of the touch sensingunit TSU, and the peripheral area FSSA of the fingerprint sensing panelFSP overlap each other.

The fingerprint sensing panel FSP may include a first fingerprint scandriving circuit FSDC1, a second fingerprint scan driving circuit FSDC2,a plurality of fingerprint signal lines F-SGL (hereinafter referred toas fingerprint signal lines), a plurality of fingerprint signal padsFS-PD, and a plurality of fingerprint sensing pixels SP. The fingerprintsensing pixels SP are disposed in the fingerprint sensing area FSA.

The first fingerprint scan driving circuit FSDC1 generates a pluralityof fingerprint scan signals and sequentially outputs the fingerprintscan signals to a plurality of fingerprint scan lines FSL describedlater. The first fingerprint scan driving circuit FSDC1 may furtheroutput another control signal to the fingerprint sensing pixels SP.

The second fingerprint scan driving circuit FSDC2 generates a pluralityof fingerprint scan signals and sequentially outputs the fingerprintscan signals to a plurality of fingerprint scan lines FSL describedlater. The second fingerprint scan driving circuit FSDC2 may furtheroutput another control signal to the fingerprint sensing pixels SP.

In this exemplary embodiment, each of the fingerprint scan lines FSL iscommonly connected to the first fingerprint scan driving circuit FSDC1and the second fingerprint scan driving circuit FSDC2. In anotherembodiment, the fingerprint sensing panel FSP may include only one ofthe first fingerprint scan driving circuit FSDC1 and the secondfingerprint scan driving circuit FSDC2.

The fingerprint signal lines F-SGL include fingerprint scan lines FSL,fingerprint sensing lines FDL, a power supply line PLL, a first controlsignal line FCL1, and a second control signal line FCL2. The fingerprintscan lines FSL are connected to the corresponding fingerprint sensingpixels SP among the fingerprint sensing pixels SP, respectively, and thefingerprint sensing lines FDL are connected to the correspondingfingerprint sensing pixels SP among the fingerprint sensing pixels SP,respectively. The power supply line PLL is connected to the fingerprintsensing pixels SP. In FIG. 5 , the power supply line PLL is one, buteach fingerprint sensing pixel SP may be connected to two or more powersupply lines PLL. In FIG. 7 described later, at least one of the firstvoltage VCST and the second voltage VCOM may be provided to thefingerprint sensing pixels SP through the power supply line PLL.

The first control signal line FCL1 may provide control signals to thefirst fingerprint scan driving circuit FSDC1. The second control signalline FCL2 may provide control signals to the second fingerprint scandriving circuit FSDC2.

The fingerprint signal lines F-SGL overlap the fingerprint sensing areaFSA and the peripheral area FSSA. The fingerprint signal lines F-SGL mayinclude a pad part and a line part. The line part overlaps thefingerprint sensing area FSA and the peripheral area FSSA. The pad partis connected to the end of the line part. The pad part is disposed inthe peripheral area FSSA and overlaps the corresponding fingerprintsignal pad of the fingerprint signal pads FS-PD.

FIG. 5 additionally shows a fingerprint circuit board F-FCB electricallyconnected to a fingerprint sensing panel FSP. The fingerprint circuitboard F-FCB may be a rigid circuit board or a flexible circuit board.The fingerprint circuit board F-FCB may be coupled directly to afingerprint sensing panel FSP or to the fingerprint sensing panel FSPthrough another circuit board.

A read-out circuit ROC for controlling the operation of the fingerprintsensing panel FSP may be disposed on the fingerprint circuit boardF-FCB. The read-out circuit ROC may be mounted on the fingerprintcircuit board F-FCB in the form of an integrated chip. In one exemplaryembodiment of the invention, the fingerprint circuit board F-FCB mayinclude read-out pads RO-PD electrically connected to the fingerprintsensing panel FSP. The fingerprint circuit board F-FCB may furtherinclude signal lines connecting the read-out pads RO-PD and the read-outcircuit ROC.

In an exemplary embodiment, the first fingerprint scan driving circuitFSDC1 and the second fingerprint scan driving circuit FSDC2 may beformed on the same substrate as the plurality of fingerprint sensingpixels SP, but the exemplary embodiments are not limited thereto. Forexample, the first fingerprint scan driving circuit FSDC1 and the secondfingerprint scan driving circuit FSDC2 are each implemented as anindependent integrated circuit chip and thus may be electricallyconnected to at least one side of the fingerprint sensing panel FSP. Inyet another embodiment, the first fingerprint scan driving circuit FSDC1and the second fingerprint scan driving circuit FSDC2 may be configuredwithin the read-out circuit ROC, and may provide fingerprint scansignals to a plurality of fingerprint scan lines FSL through connectionwirings.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment depicting aconnection relationship between fingerprint sensing pixels and afingerprint sensing scan circuit and a read-out circuit constructedaccording to principles of the invention. FIG. 7 is a circuit diagramillustrating an exemplary embodiment of a representative fingerprintsensing pixel connected to the i-th fingerprint sensing line and thej-th fingerprint scan line constructed according to principles of theinvention.

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7 , each of the fingerprint sensing pixels SPis connected to a corresponding one of the plurality of fingerprintsensing lines FDL1 to FDLm, and is connected to a corresponding one ofthe plurality of fingerprint scan lines FSL1 to FSLn.

For example, as shown in FIG. 7 , the fingerprint sensing pixel SPij maybe connected to the i-th fingerprint sensing line FDLi and the j-thfingerprint scan line FSLj.

The first fingerprint scan driving circuit FSDC1 outputs fingerprintscan signals FS1 to FSn to the plurality of fingerprint scan lines FSL1to FSLn in response to the block selection signals BS1 to BSk where “n”and “k” as depicted for the exemplary embodiment in FIG. 8 is,respectively 2560 and 40, the first and second block clock signals BCK1and BCK2, and the first and second clock signals CK1 and CK2. The secondfingerprint scan driving circuit FSDC2 outputs fingerprint scan signalsFS1 to FSn to the plurality of fingerprint scan lines FSL1 to FSLn inresponse to the block selection signals BS1 to BSk, the first and secondblock clock signals BCK1 and BCK2, and the first and second clocksignals CK1 and CK2. The first fingerprint scan driving circuit FSDC1and the second fingerprint scan driving circuit FSDC2 may havesubstantially the same circuit configuration. The block selectionsignals BS1 to BSk, the first and second block clock signals BCK1 andBCK2, and the first and second clock signals CK1 and CK2 are providedfrom the read-out circuit ROC.

The read-out circuit ROC receives fingerprint sensing signals RX1 to RXmfrom a plurality of fingerprint sensing lines FDL1 to FDLm.

In an exemplary embodiment, the read-out circuit ROC provides the blockselection signals BS1 to BSk for driving fingerprint scan lines includedin a predetermined one among a plurality of fingerprint scan lines FSL1to FSLn, the first and second block clock signals BCK1 and BCK2, and thefirst and second clock signals CK1 and CK2, to the first fingerprintscan driving circuit FSDC1 and the second fingerprint scan drivingcircuit FSDC2. The read-out circuit ROC may also receive a fingerprintsensing signal from fingerprint sensing lines included in apredetermined sensing area among the plurality of fingerprint sensinglines FDL1 to FDLm.

Referring to FIG. 7 , a fingerprint sensing pixel SPij includes aswitching transistor ST, a capacitor CST, and a photodiode PD. Theswitching transistor ST includes a first electrode connected to the i-thfingerprint sensing line FDLi, a second electrode connected to one endof the capacitor CST, and a gate electrode connected to the j-thfingerprint scan line FSLj. One end of the capacitor CST is connected tothe second electrode of the switching transistor ST and the other end isconnected to the first voltage line VL1 to which the first voltage VCSTis supplied. The photodiode PD includes an anode connected to the secondvoltage line VL2 to which the second voltage VCOM is supplied, and acathode connected to the second electrode of the switching transistorST.

In relation to the photodiode PD, current flows when light is received,and the magnitude of the voltage is almost proportional to the amount oflight. The charge generated by the photodiode PD may be stored in thecapacitor CST. When a low-level fingerprint scan signal FSj is receivedthrough the j-th fingerprint scan line FSLj, the switching transistor STis turned on and as the charge stored in the capacitor CST isdischarged, the fingerprint sensing signal RXi is outputted through thei-th fingerprint sensing line FDLi.

The fingerprint sensing pixel SPij shown in FIG. 7 is an exemplaryembodiment, and the exemplary embodiments are not limited thereto. Inanother embodiment, the fingerprint sensing pixel SPij may include twoor more switching transistors ST.

FIG. 8 is a view illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a circuitconfiguration of the first fingerprint scan driving circuit shown inFIG. 6 . Although only the first fingerprint scan driving circuit FSDC1is shown and described with reference to FIG. 8 , the second fingerprintscan driving circuit FSDC2 may have the same circuit configuration asthe first fingerprint scan driving circuit FSDC1.

In an exemplary embodiment, the fingerprint sensing panel FSP as shownin FIG. 6 includes 1280 fingerprint sensing pixels SP in a firstdirection DR1 and 2560 fingerprint sensing pixels SP in a seconddirection DR2. Thus, the fingerprint sensing panel FSP may include 1280fingerprint sensing lines FDL1 to FDL1280 and 2560 fingerprint scanlines FSL1 to FSL2560. The number of fingerprint sensing pixels SP, thenumber of fingerprint sensing lines and the number of fingerprint scanlines are only illustrative examples for convenience of explanation, andthe exemplary embodiments are not limited thereto. Also, in thisexemplary embodiment, the number of fingerprint sensing pixels SParranged in the first direction DR1 is less than the number offingerprint sensing pixels SP arranged in the second direction DR2, butthe exemplary embodiments are not limited thereto. In anotherembodiment, the number of fingerprint sensing pixels SP arranged in thefirst direction DR1 is equal to or greater than the number offingerprint sensing pixels SP arranged in the second direction DR2.

The first fingerprint scan driving circuit FSDC1 shown in FIG. 8includes 40 fingerprint scan blocks FSB1 to FSB40. Each of thefingerprint scan blocks FSB1 to FSB40 corresponds to 64 fingerprint scanlines. For example, the fingerprint scan block FSB1 may sequentiallydrive the fingerprint scan lines FSL1 to FSL64.

The fingerprint scan blocks FSB1 to FSB40 operate in response to thecorresponding block selection signal among the block selection signalsBS1 to BS40. Each of the fingerprint scan blocks FSB1 to FSB40 receivesthe first and second block clock signals BCK1 and BCK2 and the first andsecond clock signals CK1 and CK2. The block selection signals BS1 toBS40, the first and second block clock signals BCK1 and BCK2 and thefirst and second clock signals CK1 and CK2 are provided from theread-out circuit ROC.

Since the fingerprint scan blocks FSB1 to FSB40 operate similarly withthe same circuit configuration, only the fingerprint scan block FSB1will be specifically shown and described.

The fingerprint scan block FSB1 includes transistors ET1 to ET64 andstages SC1 to SC64 respectively corresponding to the fingerprint scanlines FSL1 to FSL64. The representative transistor ET1 in thefingerprint scan block FSB1 includes a first electrode for receiving ablock selection signal BS1, a second electrode connected to therepresentative stage SC1, and a gate electrode for receiving a firstblock clock signal BCK1. The first electrode of each of the transistorsET2 to ET64 in the fingerprint scan block FSB1 is connected to theoutput line of the previous stage, that is, the previous fingerprintscan line. The second electrode of each of the transistors ET2 to ET64in the fingerprint scan block FSB1 is connected to a corresponding oneamong the stages SC2 to SC64. The even-numbered transistors ET2, ET4, .. . and ET64 among the transistors ET2 to ET64 receive the second blockclock signal BCK2, and the odd-numbered transistors ET1, ET3, . . . andET63 receive the first block clock signal BCK1.

The stage SC1 outputs the representative fingerprint scan signal FS1 tothe corresponding representative fingerprint scan line FSL1 in responseto the block selection signal BS1 received through the transistor ET1and the first and second clock signals CK1 and CK2.

Each of the stages SC2 to SC64 outputs the fingerprint scan signals FS2to FS64 to the corresponding fingerprint scan lines FSL2 to FSL64 inresponse to the previous fingerprint scan signal received through thecorresponding transistors ET2 to ET64 and the first and second clocksignals CK1 and CK2.

FIG. 9 is an exemplary embodiment of a circuit diagram illustrating thestage shown in FIG. 8 .

Referring to FIG. 9 , the stage SCh corresponding to the h-thfingerprint scan line FSLh receives the (h-1)-th fingerprint scan signalFSh-1 from the (h-1)-th fingerprint scan line FSLh-1, the first clocksignal CK1, the second clock signal CK2, a high voltage VGH, and a lowvoltage VGL, and outputs the h-th fingerprint scan signal FSh to theh-th fingerprint scan line FSLh. In an exemplary embodiment, the highvoltage VGH may be a voltage with a higher level than the low voltageVGL.

The stage SCh includes first to seventh transistors M1 to M7, a firstcapacitor C1, and a second capacitor C2.

The first transistor M1 includes a first electrode for receiving the(h-1)-th fingerprint scan signal FSh-1, a second electrode connected tothe first node Q and a gate electrode for receiving the first clocksignal CK1.

The second transistor M2 includes a first electrode receiving the highvoltage VGH, a second electrode, and a gate electrode connected to thesecond node QB.

The third transistor M3 includes a first electrode connected to thesecond electrode of the second transistor M2, a second electrodeconnected to the first node Q and a gate electrode receiving the secondclock signal CK2.

The fourth transistor M4 includes a first electrode connected to thesecond node QB, a second electrode receiving the first clock signal CK1,and a gate electrode connected to the first node Q.

The sixth transistor M6 includes a first electrode for receiving thehigh voltage VGH, a second electrode connected to the h-th fingerprintscan line FSLh, and a gate electrode connected to the second node QB.

The seventh transistor M7 includes a first electrode connected to theh-th fingerprint scan line FSLh, a second electrode receiving the secondclock signal CK2, and a gate electrode connected to the first node Q.

The first capacitor C1 is connected between the first node Q and theh-th fingerprint scan line FSLh. The second capacitor C2 is connectedbetween the signal line receiving the high voltage VGH and the secondnode QB.

In this exemplary embodiment, each of the first to seventh transistorsM1 to M7 is a PMOS transistor, but the exemplary embodiments are notlimited thereto. In addition, the circuit configuration of the stage SChis not limited to the circuit shown in FIG. 9 .

FIG. 10 is an exemplary embodiment of a timing diagram for explainingthe operation of the stage shown in FIG. 9 .

Referring to FIGS. 9 and 10 , when the first transistor M1 is turned onin response to the low-level first clock signal CK1 in the sensingsection D_P, the (h-1)-th fingerprint scan signal FSh-1 of the low levelis transferred to the first node Q. If each of the first node Q and thefirst clock signal CK1 is at a low level, the fourth transistor M4 andthe fifth transistor M5 are respectively turned on so that the secondnode QB is maintained at the low level of the first clock signal CK1.

In the output section O_P, when the first clock signal CK1 transits tothe high level, the first transistor M1 and the fifth transistor M5 areturned off, and the second node QB transits to the high level. As thesecond node QB transits to the high level, the sixth transistor M6 isturned off. When the second clock signal CK2 transits to the low level,the h-th fingerprint scan signal FSh is maintained at a low level by alow level pulse width of the second clock signal CK2.

In the initialization section I_P, when the first clock signal CK1transits to the low level again, the first transistor M1 is turned onand the (h-1)-th fingerprint scan signal FSh-1 of a high level istransferred to the first node Q. Therefore, the seventh transistor M7 isturned off. As the fifth transistor M5 is turned on, the second node QBtransits to the low level. Therefore, the sixth transistor M6 is turnedon and the h-th fingerprint scan signal FSh may be initialized to a highlevel.

In FIG. 10 , the first horizontal scan section 1H means a section inwhich each of the fingerprint scan lines FSL1 to FSLm shown in FIG. 6 isdriven.

Referring to FIG. 8 again, for example, if the block selection signalBS1 is in a low level, the fingerprint scan block FSB1 may output thefingerprint scan signals FS1 to FS64 to the corresponding fingerprintscan lines FSL1 to FSL64 in response to the first and second block clocksignals BCK1 and BCK2 and the first and second clock signals CK1 andCK2. For example, the fingerprint scan signals FS1 to FS64 aresequentially enabled to a low level during the first horizontal scansection 1H.

For example, if the block selection signal BS2 is in a low level, thefingerprint scan block FSB2 may output the fingerprint scan signals FS65to FS128 to the corresponding fingerprint scan lines FSL65 to FSL128 inresponse to the first and second block clock signals BCK1 and BCK2 andthe first and second clock signals CK1 and CK2.

For example, if the block selection signal BS40 is in a low level, thefingerprint scan block FSB40 may output the fingerprint scan signalsFS2496 to FS2560 to the corresponding fingerprint scan lines FSL2496 toFSL2560 in response to the first and second block clock signals BCK1 andBCK2 and the first and second clock signals CK1 and CK2.

In relation to the block selection signals BS1 to BS40, depending on thesensing area described above, two or more block selection signals may beactivated simultaneously at a low level. For example, adjacent fourblock selection signals among the block selection signals BS1 to BS40may be activated simultaneously at a low level.

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of exemplary embodiments of a touch sensingunit, display unit and fingerprint sensing panel illustrating anexemplary operation of an electronic device constructed according toprinciples of the invention.

For convenience of explanation, the touch sensing unit TSU, the displayunit DU and the fingerprint sensing panel FSP of the electronic deviceED are separated and shown in FIG. 11 .

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 11 , when a message MSG indicating“authenticate yourself by using a fingerprint” is displayed at apredetermined position of the electronic device ED, the user will toucha pre-registered finger to the electronic device ED. The type and formof the message MSG displayed on the electronic device ED may vary. Also,the touch sensing process may be performed without a special messageMSG. For example, the electronic device ED may sense the touch input TCand perform the functions of user authentication and unlocking even whenthe display unit DU is turned off for power saving.

The touch sensing unit TSU senses the touch input TC and providesposition information of the touch input TC to the touch sensing circuitTSC. The touch sensing circuit TSC transfers the position informationfrom the touch sensing unit TSU to the control module CM shown in FIG. 2.

The control module CM sets the touch area TA based on the positioninformation from the touch sensing unit TSU and selects the lightemitting area EA corresponding to the touch area TA. The control moduleCM controls the panel driving circuit PDC such that the brightness ofthe light emitting area EA of the display unit DU increases. The paneldriving circuit PDC displays a message MSG in a predetermined area ofthe display unit DU and increases the brightness of the light emittingarea EA.

For example, the control module CM may control the panel driving circuitPDC so that the brightness of the image displayed in the light emittingarea EA is raised by a predetermined level or is the brightness of anarbitrary first level.

Continuously, the control module CM provides a read-out circuit ROC witha signal for selecting the sensing area SA of the fingerprint sensingpanel FSP corresponding to the touch area TA. The read-out circuit ROCreceives fingerprint information according to the touch input TC fromthe sensing area SA of the fingerprint sensing panel FSP.

FIGS. 12 and 13 are block and timing diagrams, respectively, of anexemplary embodiment illustrating an exemplary operation of a controlmodule of an electronic device constructed according to principles ofthe invention.

Referring to FIGS. 12 and 13 , when the touch input TC of the user shownin FIG. 1A is sensed by the touch sensing unit TSU, the control moduleCM of the electronic device ED receives the touch sensing signal fromthe touch sensing circuit TSC (S1). The control module CM outputs acontrol signal for controlling the brightness of the light emitting areaEA of the display unit DU to the panel driving circuit PDC in responseto the touch sensing signal from the touch sensing circuit TSC (S2).

On the other hand, the control module CM outputs a control signal forselecting a sensing area SA of the fingerprint sensing panel FSP to theread-out circuit ROC (S3). The read-out circuit ROC outputs selectionsignals for selecting the sensing area SA of the fingerprint sensingpanel FSP to the fingerprint sensing panel FSP in response to a controlsignal from the control module CM. The read-out circuit ROC provides afingerprint sensing signal from the sensing area SA of the fingerprintsensing panel FSP to the control module CM (S4).

The control module CM performs an authentication process for comparingthe fingerprint sensing signal from the read-out circuit ROC with thefingerprint signal stored in the memory MM shown in FIG. 2 (S5).

FIG. 14A is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of afirst fingerprint scan driving circuit for driving fingerprint scanlines of a fingerprint sensing panel constructed according to principlesof the invention.

Referring to FIG. 14A, in an exemplary embodiment, the fingerprintsensing panel FSP includes 1280 fingerprint sensing pixels SP (see FIG.5 ) in the first direction DR1 and 2560 fingerprint sensing pixels SP inthe second direction DR2. In an exemplary embodiment, the fingerprintsensing panel FSP may include 20 columns of sensing units in the firstdirection DR1 and 40 rows of sensing units in the second direction DR2.Each of the sensing units may include x fingerprint sensing pixels SP(shown in FIG. 5 ) in the first direction DR1, and y fingerprint sensingpixels SP in the second direction DR2. Herein, x and y are positiveintegers, and in this exemplary embodiment, x=64, y=64.

The number of fingerprint sensing pixels SP and sensing units SU11 toSU4020 of the fingerprint sensing panel shown in FIG. 14A and the numberof fingerprint sensing pixels SP in the sensing units SU11 to SU4020 areonly examples for convenience of explanation, and the exemplaryembodiments are not limited thereto. Also, in relation to thefingerprint sensing panel FSP shown in FIG. 14A, the number offingerprint sensing pixels SP arranged in the second direction DR2 islarger than that in the first direction DR1, but the exemplaryembodiments are not limited thereto.

Although FIG. 14A shows that the fingerprint sensing panel FSP includesonly the first fingerprint scan driving circuit FSDC1, the fingerprintsensing panel FSP may further include a second fingerprint scan drivingcircuit FSDC2 shown in FIG. 5 .

The number of the fingerprint scan blocks FSB1 to FSB40 in the firstfingerprint scan driving circuit FSDC1 may be equal to the number of thesensing units arranged in the second direction DR2. The fingerprint scanblocks FSB1 to FSB40 drive corresponding fingerprint scan lines,respectively. For example, the fingerprint scan block FSB1 may drive thefingerprint scan lines connected to the sensing units SU11 to SU120sequentially arranged in the first direction DR1, and the fingerprintscan block FSB2 may drive the fingerprint scan lines connected to thesensing units SU21 to SU220 sequentially arranged in the first directionDR1.

FIG. 14B is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of afirst fingerprint scan driving circuit for driving fingerprint scanlines in a sensing area of a fingerprint sensing panel constructedaccording to principles of the invention.

In an exemplary embodiment, the sensing area SA may include four columnsof sensing units in a first direction DR1 and four rows of sensing unitsin a second direction DR2, i.e., a total of sixteen sensing units. Thatis, the control module CM shown in FIG. 12 outputs a control signal tothe read-out circuit ROC so that when a predetermined area of the touchsensing unit TSU is touched, 16 sensing units corresponding to the toucharea are selected as the sensing area SA. FIG. 14B illustratively showsthat 16 sensing units SU54 to SU87 are selected as the sensing area SA.

The fingerprint scan blocks FSB5 to FSB8 in the first fingerprint scandriving circuit FSDC1 may sequentially drive the fingerprint scan linescorresponding to the sensing units SU54 to SU87 in response to the blockselection signals BS5 to BS8 activated at the low level.

In this embodiment, since only the fingerprint scan blocks FSB5 to FSB8operate, which correspond to the sensing units SU54 to SU87 in thesensing area SA among the fingerprint scan blocks FSB1 to FSB40 in thefirst fingerprint scan driving circuit FSDC1, power consumption may bereduced.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of aread-out circuit constructed according to principles of the invention.

As shown in FIG. 15 , the read-out circuit ROC includes read-out blocksRXB1 to RXB20 and a control circuit RC.

Referring to FIGS. 14A and 15 , the number of read-out blocks RXB1 toRXB20 may be equal to the number of the columns of sensing unitsarranged in the first direction DR1. Each of the read-out blocks RXB1 toRXB20 receives fingerprint sensing signals from fingerprint sensinglines connected to a corresponding one of the sensing units. Forexample, the read-out block RXB1 receives fingerprint sensing signalsRX1 to RX64 from the fingerprint sensing lines FDL1 to FDL64 connectedto the sensing units SU11 to SU401 sequentially arranged in the seconddirection DR2. The read-out block RXB20 receives the fingerprint sensingsignals RX1216 to RX1280 from the fingerprint sensing lines FDL1216 toFDL1280 connected to the sensing units SU120 to SU4020 sequentiallyarranged in the second direction DR2.

The control circuit RC outputs enable signals EN1 to EN20 for selectingthe read-out blocks RXB1 to RXB20 in response to the control signal fromthe control module CM. In an exemplary embodiment, the control circuitRC outputs a reception selection signal in response to the controlsignal from the control module CM, and each of the read-out blocks RXB1to RXB20 receives the fingerprint sensing signal from the fingerprintsensing lines in a sensing unit included in the sensing area SA inresponse to the reception selection signal.

The control circuit RC outputs block selection signals BS1 to BS40,first and second block clock signals BCK1 and BCK2, and first and secondclock signals CK1 and CK2 in response to the control signal from thecontrol module CM.

In the example shown in FIG. 14B, when the sensing units SU54 to SU87 inthe sensing area SA are selected, the control circuit RC activates onlyblock selection signals BS5 to BS8 among the block selection signals BS1to BS40 at a low level, and maintains the remaining block selectionsignals BS1 to BS4, and BS9 to BS40 a high-level inactive state.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment ofread-out blocks receiving fingerprint sensing signals from fingerprintsensing lines in a sensing area of a fingerprint sensing panelconstructed according to principles of the invention.

Referring to FIGS. 15 and 16 , when the sensing units SU54 to SU87 inthe sensing area SA are selected, only the enable signals EN4 to EN7among the enable signals EN1 to EN20 may be activated to a predeterminedlevel, and the remaining enable signals EN1 to EN3, and EN8 to EN20 maybe maintained in the inactive state. In this case, the read-out blocksRXB4 to RXB7 (corresponding to the sensing area SA) among the read-outblocks RXB1 to RXB20 receive the fingerprint sensing signals from thefingerprint sensing lines and transmit the received fingerprint sensingsignals to the control circuit RC. Thus, only the fingerprint sensingsignals from the fingerprint sensing lines in the sensing area SA may beprovided to the control module CM through the read-out blocks RXB4 toRXB7 and the control circuit RC. On the other hand, the read-out blocksRXB1 to RXB3 and RXB8 to RXB20 (which do not correspond to the sensingarea SA), which receive the enable signals EN1 to EN3 and EN8 to EN20are maintained in the inactive state. Thus, the power consumption in theread-out circuit ROC may be reduced.

According to this embodiment, by providing to the control module CM onlythe fingerprint sensing signals from the fingerprint sensing lines inthe sensing area SA among the fingerprint sensing signals RX1 to RX1280from the fingerprint sensing lines FDL1 to FDL1280, the number of signallines between the read-out circuit ROC and the control module CM may bereduced. Moreover, the data processing amount required for thefingerprint authentication process in the control module CM may beminimized.

FIG. 17 is an exemplary embodiment of a timing diagram illustrating theoperation of an electronic device constructed according to principles ofthe invention.

Referring to FIGS. 12 and 17 , the panel driving circuit PDC may operateso that a new image is displayed on the display unit DU every frame FR.One frame FR includes an active period AP and a blank period BP. In theactive period AP, the panel driving circuit PDC transmits an imagesignal and synchronization signals (for example, a scan start signal, ahorizontal synchronization signal, a clock signal, and the like) to thedisplay unit DU. In the blank period BP, the panel driving circuit PDCdoes not transmit the image signal to the display unit DU.

The touch sensing circuit TSC may receive the touch signal from thetouch sensing unit TSU in the active period AP.

The control module CM according to an exemplary embodiment may controlthe read-out circuit ROC in synchronization with the synchronizationsignals of the panel driving circuit PDC. The read-out circuit ROCprovides the block selection signal B S1 to BSk, the first and secondblock clock signals BCK1 and BCK2, and the first and second clocksignals CK1 and CK2 to the fingerprint sensing panel FSP during theactive period AP, and receives the fingerprint sensing signals RX1 toRX256 from the fingerprint sensing panel FSP during the blank period BP.In the example shown in FIGS. 14B and 15 , since the sensing area SAincludes four sensing units in the first direction DR1, during the blankperiod BP, the read-out circuit ROC may receive a total of 256fingerprint sensing signals RX1 to RX256 from the fingerprint sensingpanel FSP.

Since the read-out circuit ROC receives the fingerprint sensing signalsRX1 to RX256 of the fingerprint sensing panel FSP during the blankperiod BP of the display unit DU and the touch sensing unit TSU, thenoise image due to the interference of the fingerprint sensing signalwith the image signal and the touch sensing signal may be minimized.

FIGS. 18A, 18B and 18C are graphs showing changes in the brightness ofthe light emitting area in a display unit constructed according toprinciples of the invention.

Referring to FIGS. 11, 12, and 18A, when the control module CM receivesthe touch sensing signal from the touch sensing circuit TSC, it controlsthe panel driving circuit PDC so that the brightness of the lightemitting area EA corresponding to the touch area TA increases.

The photodiode PD of the fingerprint sensing pixel SPij in thefingerprint sensing panel FSP shown in FIG. 7 senses the amount of lightreflected by the user's hand, which is the light emitted from thedisplay unit DU, so that the user's fingerprint information may besensed. As the brightness of the light emitted from the display unit DUis higher, the fingerprint sensing panel FSP may more accurately sensethe difference in light reflected by a valley between the ridges of thefingerprint.

As shown in FIG. 18A, the control module CM may set the brightness ofthe light emitting area EA to the maximum level (e.g., 1000 nit). If thefingerprint sensing signal received from the fingerprint sensing panelFSP through the read-out circuit ROC does not match the presetfingerprint signal, the control module CM may repeat the fingerprintsensing process. The control module CM may maintain the brightness ofthe light emitting area EA at the maximum level (e.g., 1000 nit) in thefirst fingerprint sensing section FS_P1, the second fingerprint sensingsection FS_P2 and the third fingerprint sensing section FS_P3.

As shown in FIG. 18B, the control module CM may raise the brightness ofthe light emitting area EA step by step. For example, the control moduleCM may raise the brightness of the light emitting area EA step by stepto 400 nits in the first fingerprint sensing section FS_P1, 700 nits inthe second fingerprint sensing section FS_P2, and 1000 nits in the thirdfingerprint sensing section FS_P3. In such a way, if the brightness ofthe light emitting area EA is increased, the power consumption may bereduced as compared with the example shown in FIG. 18A. The number offingerprint sensing sections, the brightness increased level of thelight emitting area EA, and the like are merely examples and it will beunderstood well that these may be variously changed.

As shown in FIG. 18C, the control module CM may raise the brightness ofthe light emitting area EA step by step, but may set the brightnessincreasing width irregularly. For example, the control module CM mayraise the brightness of the light emitting area EA step by step to 700nits in the first fingerprint sensing section FS_P1, 1000 nits in thesecond fingerprint sensing section FS_P2, and 1000 nits in the thirdfingerprint sensing section FS_P3.

As shown in FIGS. 18A to 18C, the control module CM may improve thefingerprint sensing performance of the fingerprint sensing panel FSP byraising the brightness of the light emitting area EA. Specifically, thefingerprint sensing performance of the fingerprint sensing panel FSP maybe improved while varying the brightness of the light emitting area EAduring the fingerprint sensing process and minimizing power consumption.

FIG. 19A is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of afingerprint sensing process of an electronic device constructedaccording to principles of the invention.

Referring to FIG. 19A, the control module CM receives a touch sensingsignal from a touch sensing unit TSU (S11). The control module CMdetermines the touch area corresponding to the touch sensing signal fromthe touch sensing circuit TSC, and outputs a control signal forcontrolling the brightness of the light emitting area of the displayunit DU corresponding to the touch area to the panel driving circuit PDC(S12).

The panel driving circuit PDC increases the brightness of the lightemitting area of the display unit DU (S13).

The fingerprint sensing panel FSP provides the fingerprint sensingsignal of the sensing area corresponding to the touch area to theread-out circuit ROC (S14).

The read-out circuit ROC provides a fingerprint sensing signal from thefingerprint sensing panel FSP to the control module CM (S15).

The control module CM performs an authentication process for comparingthe fingerprint sensing signal from the read-out circuit ROC with thefingerprint signal stored in the memory MM shown in FIG. 2 (S16).

FIG. 19B is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of afingerprint sensing process of an electronic device when fingerprintauthentication fails in the authentication process shown in FIG. 19A. InFIG. 19B, the processes S11 to S16 are the same as those in FIG. 19A, sorepeated description is omitted to avoid redundancy.

Referring to FIG. 19B, if the fingerprint sensing signal from theread-out circuit ROC and the fingerprint signal stored in the memory MMshown in FIG. 2 are different (S16), the control module CM outputs acontrol signal for increasing the brightness of the light emitting areato the panel driving circuit PDC (S21). For example, the brightness ofthe light emitting area may be increased as shown in any one of FIGS.18A to 18C.

The panel driving circuit PDC increases the brightness of the lightemitting area of the display unit DU (S22).

The fingerprint sensing panel FSP provides the fingerprint sensingsignal of the sensing area corresponding to the touch area to theread-out circuit ROC (S23).

The read-out circuit ROC provides a fingerprint sensing signal from thefingerprint sensing panel FSP to the control module CM (S24).

The control module CM performs an authentication process for comparingthe fingerprint sensing signal from the read-out circuit ROC with thefingerprint signal stored in the memory MM shown in FIG. 2 (S25).

If the fingerprint sensing signal from the read-out circuit ROC and thefingerprint signal stored in the memory MM shown in FIG. 2 aredifferent, the processes S21 to S25 may be performed again.

If the fingerprint authentication fails even after the authenticationprocess is repeatedly performed a predetermined number of times, thecontrol module CM may determine the user providing the fingerprint as anunauthorized user.

FIG. 20A is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of afingerprint sensing process of an electronic device constructedaccording to principles of the invention.

Referring to FIG. 20A, the control module CM may know the touch area inadvance. For example, the application program for Internet banking mayset the fingerprint authentication position to a predetermined area ofthe electronic device, and notify the fingerprint authenticationposition information to the control module CM. In this case, the controlmodule CM does not receive the touch sensing signal from the touchsensing unit TSU.

The control module CM outputs a control signal for controlling thebrightness of the light emitting area of the display unit DUcorresponding to the previously known touch area to the panel drivingcircuit PDC (S31).

The panel driving circuit PDC increases the brightness of the lightemitting area of the display unit DU (S32).

The fingerprint sensing panel FSP provides the fingerprint sensingsignal of the sensing area corresponding to the touch area to theread-out circuit ROC (S33).

The read-out circuit ROC provides a fingerprint sensing signal from thefingerprint sensing panel FSP to the control module CM (S34).

The control module CM performs an authentication process for comparingthe fingerprint sensing signal from the read-out circuit ROC with thefingerprint signal stored in the memory MM shown in FIG. 2 (S35).

FIG. 20B is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of afingerprint sensing process of an electronic device when fingerprintauthentication fails in the authentication process shown in FIG. 20A. InFIG. 20B, the processes S31 to S35 are the same as those in FIG. 20A, sothat description is omitted to avoid redundancy.

Referring to FIG. 20B, if the fingerprint sensing signal from theread-out circuit ROC and the fingerprint signal stored in the memory MMshown in FIG. 2 are different (S35), the control module CM outputs acontrol signal for increasing the brightness of the light emitting areato the panel driving circuit PDC (S41). For example, the brightness ofthe light emitting area may be increased as shown in any one of FIGS.18A to 18C.

The panel driving circuit PDC increases the brightness of the lightemitting area of the display unit DU (S42).

The fingerprint sensing panel FSP provides the fingerprint sensingsignal of the sensing area corresponding to the touch area to theread-out circuit ROC (S43).

The read-out circuit ROC provides a fingerprint sensing signal from thefingerprint sensing panel FSP to the control module CM (S44).

The control module CM performs an authentication process for comparingthe fingerprint sensing signal from the read-out circuit ROC with thefingerprint signal stored in the memory MM shown in FIG. 2 (S45).

If the fingerprint sensing signal from the read-out circuit ROC and thefingerprint signal stored in the memory MM shown in FIG. 2 aredifferent, the processes S41 to S45 may be performed again.

If the fingerprint authentication fails even after the authenticationprocess is repeatedly performed a predetermined number of times, thecontrol module CM may determine the user providing the fingerprint as anunauthorized user.

FIG. 21A is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of afingerprint sensing process of an electronic device constructedaccording to principles of the invention.

The processes S61 to S64 of the electronic device shown in FIG. 21Aoperate in the same manner as the processes S11 to S14 shown in FIG.19A. The control module CM of the electronic device shown in FIG. 19Aperforms an authentication process for comparing the fingerprint sensingsignal from the read-out circuit ROC with the fingerprint signal storedin the memory MM shown in FIG. 2 (S16).

Unlike the process S16 shown in FIG. 19A, the read-out circuit ROC shownin FIG. 21A performs an authentication process of comparing afingerprint sensing signal from a fingerprint sensing panel FSP with afingerprint signal stored in an internal memory (S65).

The read-out circuit ROC provides the result of the authenticationprocess to the control module CM (S66).

FIG. 21B is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of afingerprint sensing process of an electronic device when fingerprintauthentication fails in the authentication process shown in FIG. 21A. InFIG. 21B, the processes S61 to S66 are the same as those in FIG. 21A, sothat description is omitted to avoid redundancy.

Referring to FIG. 21B, when a signal indicating that the fingerprintauthentication fails is received from the read-out circuit ROC (S66),the control module CM outputs a control signal for increasing thebrightness of the light emitting area to the panel driving circuit PDC(S71). For example, the brightness of the light emitting area may beincreased as shown in any one of FIGS. 18A to 18C.

The panel driving circuit PDC increases the brightness of the lightemitting area of the display unit DU (S72).

The fingerprint sensing panel FSP provides the fingerprint sensingsignal of the sensing area corresponding to the touch area to theread-out circuit ROC (S73).

The read-out circuit ROC performs an authentication process of comparinga fingerprint sensing signal from a fingerprint sensing panel FSP with afingerprint signal stored in an internal memory (S74).

The read-out circuit ROC provides the result of the authenticationprocess to the control module CM (S75).

If the fingerprint authentication fails even after the authenticationprocess is repeatedly performed a predetermined number of times, thecontrol module CM may determine the user providing the fingerprint as anunauthorized user.

Display devices constructed according to the principles and exemplary u)embodiments of the invention may sense a fingerprint on substantiallythe entire front surface of the display device. The electronic devicemay increase the brightness of the display area corresponding to thesensing area, thereby improving the fingerprint recognition performance.Also, the signal processing amount may be minimized by receiving afingerprint sensing signal from the sensing area corresponding to theuser's touch area.

Although certain exemplary embodiments and implementations have beendescribed herein, other embodiments and modifications will be apparentfrom this description. Accordingly, the inventive concepts are notlimited to such embodiments, but rather to the broader scope of theappended claims and various obvious modifications and equivalentarrangements as would be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in theart.

What is claimed is:
 1. A display device comprising: a plurality ofpixels configured to display an image; a touch sensing unit configuredto sense an external input; a fingerprint sensing unit comprising aplurality of fingerprint sensing pixels respectively connected to aplurality of fingerprint scan lines and a plurality of fingerprintsensing lines; a fingerprint scan driving circuit comprising a pluralityof scan blocks; and a read-out circuit configured to output a clocksignal and a plurality of block selection signals, wherein: each of theplurality of scan blocks outputs a plurality of fingerprint scan signalsto corresponding fingerprint scan lines among the plurality offingerprint scan lines in response to the clock signal and a receivedblock selection signal among the plurality of block selection signals,each of the scan blocks sequentially outputs the plurality offingerprint scan signals to an active level when the received blockselection signal is in an active state; and each of the scan blocksoutputs the plurality of fingerprint scan signals to an inactive levelwhen the received block selection signal is in an inactive state.
 2. Thedisplay device of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of scan blockscomprises: a plurality of switching elements respectively correspondingto some fingerprint scan lines among the plurality of fingerprint scanlines; and a plurality of stages respectively corresponding to somefingerprint scan lines to output a fingerprint scan signal to acorresponding fingerprint scan line in response to a clock signal and aninput signal; a first switching element configured to transfer a blockselection signal to the input signal of a corresponding stage inresponse to a block clock signal; and an h-th switching element, where his a positive integer greater than 1, configured to transfer afingerprint scan signal outputted from a (h-1)-th stage to the inputsignal of corresponding stages in response to the block clock signal. 3.The display device of claim 1, wherein the read-out circuit receives afingerprint sensing signal from one of the plurality of fingerprintsensing lines.
 4. The display device of claim 3, wherein the read-outcircuit comprises: a control circuit to output a plurality of enablesignals; and a plurality of read-out blocks respectively correspondingto the plurality of fingerprint sensing pixels arranged in a firstdirection; wherein each of the plurality of read-out blocks receives thefingerprint sensing signal corresponding to one among the plurality offingerprint sensing pixels in response to a corresponding one among theplurality of enable signals.
 5. The display device of claim 1, furthercomprising a plurality of scan lines and a plurality of data linesrespectively connected to the plurality of pixels, wherein: one framecomprises an active period and a blank period; and the plurality of scanlines are sequentially driven during the active period.
 6. An electronicdevice comprising: a display unit including a plurality of pixels; adisplay driving circuit configured to drive the display unit; a touchsensing unit configured to sense an external input; a touch sensingcircuit configured to drive the touch sensing unit; a fingerprintsensing unit comprising a plurality of fingerprint sensing pixelsrespectively connected to a plurality of fingerprint scan lines and aplurality of fingerprint sensing lines; a fingerprint scan drivingcircuit comprising a plurality of scan blocks; a read-out circuitconfigured to output a clock signal and a plurality of block selectionsignals, and receive a fingerprint sensing signal from the fingerprintsensing unit; and a control module to control the display drivingcircuit, the touch sensing circuit, and the read-out circuit, wherein:when a touch sensing signal corresponding to an arbitrary touch area isreceived from the touch sensing circuit, the control module controls thedisplay driving circuit so that a brightness of a light emitting area ofthe display unit becomes a predetermined level, and controls theread-out circuit to sense a fingerprint from a sensing area of thefingerprint sensing unit; the touch area, the light emitting area, andthe sensing area overlap each other; each of the plurality of scanblocks outputs a plurality of fingerprint scan signals to correspondingfingerprint scan lines among the plurality of fingerprint scan lines inresponse to the clock signal and a received block selection signal amongthe plurality of block selection signals; each of the scan blockssequentially outputs the plurality of fingerprint scan signals to anactive level when the received block selection signal is active state;and each of the scan blocks outputs the plurality of fingerprint scansignals to an inactive level when the received block selection signal isin an inactive state.
 7. The electronic device of claim 6, wherein theread-out circuit is configured to output the plurality of blockselection signals to select the sensing area and to receive thefingerprint sensing signal from fingerprint sensing lines included inthe sensing area.
 8. The electronic device of claim 6, wherein theread-out circuit is configured to perform an authentication process tocompare the fingerprint sensing signal with a stored fingerprint signal,and to provide an authentication result to the control module.
 9. Theelectronic device of claim 6, wherein: the display unit furthercomprises a plurality of scan lines and a plurality of data linesrespectively connected to the plurality of pixels; one frame comprisesan active period and a blank period; and the plurality of scan lines aresequentially driven during the active period.
 10. The electronic deviceof claim 6, wherein the control module is configured to receive afingerprint signal from the read-out circuit and to perform anauthentication process to compare the fingerprint signal with a storedfingerprint signal.
 11. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein: thecontrol module controls a brightness of the light emitting area to afirst level when the touch sensing signal is received; and the controlmodule controls a brightness of the light emitting area to a secondlevel higher than the first level when the fingerprint signal receivedfrom the read-out circuit and the stored fingerprint signal aredifferent from each other.
 12. A method of operating an electronicdevice including a touch sensing unit, a display unit, and a fingerprintsensing touch, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a touchsensing signal from the touch sensing unit; defining a touch areacorresponding to the touch sensing signal; increasing a light emissionbrightness of a light emitting area of the display unit corresponding tothe touch area; generating a first block selection signal to select asensing area of a fingerprint sensing unit corresponding to the toucharea; generating a second block selection signal for a non-sensing areaof the fingerprint sensing unit; driving a fingerprint scan lineconnected to a fingerprint sensing pixel in the sensing area of thefingerprint sensing unit in response to the first block selectionsignal; driving a fingerprint scan line connected to a fingerprintsensing pixel in the non-sensing area of the fingerprint sensing unit inan inactive state in response to the second block selection signal; andreceiving a fingerprint sensing signal from the sensing area.
 13. Themethod of claim 12, further comprising the step of comparing thefingerprint sensing signal with a preset fingerprint signal.
 14. Themethod of claim 13, further comprising: when the fingerprint sensingsignal and the preset fingerprint signal are different from each other,increasing a light emission brightness of a light emitting areacorresponding to the touch area of the display unit; generating a blockselection signal to sense the sensing area corresponding to the toucharea of the fingerprint sensing unit; and receiving a new fingerprintsensing signal from the sensing area of the fingerprint sensing unit.15. The method of claim 14, wherein: the display unit comprises aplurality of pixels, a plurality of scan lines and a plurality of datalines; and the plurality of scan lines are sequentially driven during anactive period.